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  • 1998 Volume 53 Issue 2
    Published: 15 March 1998
      

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  • Lu Dadao, Guo Laixi
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    Academician Wu Chuanjun is an outstanding geographer of China, well known home and abroad. In his academic career of 60 odd years, Professor Wu has made significant contributions to the development of geographical study and national construction in China, and has been taking a leading role in the process of increasing international recognition of Chinese geography and enhancing international communication of China’s geographical circle with foreign colleagues through his continuous hard efforts and serious commitment. This paper elaborates briefly the profound geographical thoughts of Professor Wu, and gives a concise introduction to his remarkable contributions to the overall development of geography in China, with focus on his significant achievements in the aspects of strengthening agriculture geography and land use study, defining the development orientations of China’s economic geography, opening up new research fields such as territorial planning and sustainable development, initiating and organizing the renewal of China’s human geography, organizing the internal cooperation in China’s geographical society, promoting international academic communication, etc.. This paper also gives insight discussions on the theory of man-earth areal system, the essence of geographical thoughts of Professor Wu, mainly referring to the background, conceptions and its relationship with sustainable development of the theory. Professor Wu creatively put forward the theoretical term of “man earth areal system”, and stresses that man earth relationship remains as the core of geographical study in all developmental stages of the discipline. He proposed that the major contents of geographical study should include following issues: general theories about the formation, functional structure and development of man earth areal system; study on the relationship among sub systems of man earth areal system, such as interaction intensity analysis, potential assessment, effect evaluation and risk analysis; study on the basic rules concerning the material and energy flow and convey in man earth areal system and approaches of overall systematic control; analysis of areal capacity of population; study on the dynamic models; analysis of areal differences and areal categorizing; study on the improved monitoring and modeling of coordinated man earth relationship of various types of regions of different spatial levels and scopes, and so on. Professor Wu has long been paying great efforts in training qualified personnel for the long term prosperity of China’s geographical career, with remarkable results concerning various fields and levels. With his most respected age of eighty approaching, Professor Wu is still on his important career mission with full energy and wisdom, providing strategic support to the development of China’s geographical study towards the 21st century.
  • Li Bingcheng
    1998, 53(2): 106-115. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802002
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    Using the methods of archaeology and historical geography, the author investigated the desertification regions of the ancient oases from Han to Tang Dynasties in the Hexi Corridor in Gansu, Brought to light several features of the desertification regions, and studied the processes and causes of desertification in the ancient oases. 1. The desertification regions in ancient oases. There are 10 pieces altogether: the Western Sandy Land in Minqing County (the lower reaches of Shiyang Rivey), the Juhuadi in Minle County, the Heishuiguo in Zhangye City (the middle reaches of Heihe River), the ancient Juyan Oasis (The lower reaches of Heihe River), the lower reaches of Maying River and Bailang River, the Eastern Sandy Land of Jinta County (the lower reaches of Northern Big River), the Bijiatan in Yumen City, the western border district of alluvial fan of Changma River, the lower reaches of Lucaoguo River, and the ancient oasis of Yangguan Pass in Dunhuang City. Their total area is about 4 700 km2. 2. There are several features in the desertification regions: (1) The majority of these regions are situated in the lower reaches of rivers. In these regions the water resources are relatively poor, and the effects of natural calamities (for example drought, windstorm) are relatively serious and frequent. Moreover the regions are distributed alternately among drift sand, gobi and alkali flat, even are surrounded by desert. Thus the latent instability of ecology environment in the regions is very strong. As a result, the processes of desertification are easy to be aroused and activated in the regions. Influenced by makind’s unreasonable fashions of land exploitation, the oases are easy to evolve into deserts. For this reason, the major areas of the prevention and harnessing of desertification should follow with interest at the lower reaches of the rivers. (2) The regions were eroded seriously by wind. The main landscape in the regions is the ancient cultivated land that was wind eroded alternating with scrub dunes. Furthermore a lot of the ruins of ancient cities were left over the regions, for example Souyang City in Anxi, Camel City in Gaotai, Shazhou City ad shouchang City in Dunhuang, Juyan City in Ejina Banner, Liancheng City in Minqin, Heishui City in Zhangye, Xigu City in Jinta, Bijiatan City in Yumen, etc. These ruins of ancient cities are the most authoritarian historical specimens of our country’s ancient civilization and a culture of long standing on the Silk Road. The Hexi Corridor is one of the areas where the ruins of ancient cities are the richest in quantity, the most diverse in type, the most integrated in dynasties, and most complete in preservation in the world. In the light of these ruins of ancient cities and their historical relics, we can restore the flourishing appearance of the ancient oases in those days, and can bring to light the occurrence periods and the causes of the desertification. 3. The occurrence periods of the desertification processes in the ancient oases were as follow: some districts were in the later period of the Han Dynasty, and the greater number of districts were in the later period of the Tang Dynasty (some districts lasted to the Yuan Dynasty). The main cause of the desertification processes in the ancient oases was as a result of artificial cause, that was closely related to the political and military situation, the state of agricultural and stock raising development, the use of water resources, and the level of man’s knowing natural environment in ancient times; but there were natural causes as well (mainly the changes of climate in aridity and humidity in history). The author pointed out yet that although the some ancient oases evolved into deserts, yet the total area of Hexi Oases was not reduced, it had displayed to a great extent a sort of oases transferance.
  • Zheng Du, Shen Yuancun
    1998, 53(2): 116-122. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802003
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    Mountains and hills accouns for 2/3 of the total area in China. Intense soil erosion of slopelands brings about serious consequences of environments, social and economic developments, being a restrictive factor for improving the living standards of the people and increasing of agricultural production. For maintaining the living space of human society, effective measurements should be taken for preventing land from further degradation, and rehabilitaing the degraded land, in order to enhance its productivity potential and promote regional sustainable development. The Three Gorge Areas are characterized by middle subtropical climate and the purple soils, with thin layer and sandclay texture are easy to be eroded. The efficient use of sloping farmland has been drawn more attention in the region. Different measures of land use, including engineering and biological ones were carried out for soil conservation and erosion control. Based on research results of the stationary experiments and observations on the purple soil slopelands in the Three Gorges Areas, the slopelands process, the measurements for restoration and management of degrading slopelands are discussed in the present paper. As concerns the degrading threshold of the purple soil slopelands, the threshold of slope gradients for the maximum intensity of surface erosion is 24° ̄29°; the maximum diameter of soil particles eroded by water is less than 0 02 mm, including silt (0.02 mm ̄0.002 mm) and clay (<0.002 mm); the selecting erosion of soil particles may cause soil organic matter loss, and the reduction of available N, P and K content in the soil surface. The loss of N, P and K is not associated with loss of water, but occurs in the process of selecting erosion of soil particles. The sediment filtering effect of living hedgerows has an additional advantage, preventing soil nutrient loss with runoff. For some soils, most nutrients are combined with small soil aggregated, while the content of nutrients in soluble state is low. Therefore the nutrient loss will be controlled if the sediment in runoff is kept on site. Silt and clay fractions have high proportions in purple soil particles and play the role of nutrient carriers. Experiment shows that nutrient content in sediments is high while that in runoff water is extremely scarce (Cai et al . 1996). Obersrvation from the field tests shows that the living hedgerows can decrease surface runoff enormously and reduce soil erosion obviously, as long as the living hedgerow forming an effective barrier. Because the slope length has been shortened by hedgerows, then runoff velocity of slopelands surface decreased, opportunity time of water infiltration prolonged, and runoff erosivity as well as transport capacity reduced after a continuous contour barrier being built. According to comparative studies of mechanical, agricultural and biological measurements in the study areas, the contour hedgerows of Leucaena leucacephala, Vitex negundo, Coriaria sinica, Hibiscus syriacus and Hemerocallis citrina form an earth bunds of 40 cm ̄60 cm in hight within three years. It is quite possible to form hedgerow terraces or gentle sloping terraces in about 10 years. Green manure is the major harvests from the hedge plants used in the experiment site. Trials show that soil fertility, especially the physical and biochemical properties of soils have been improved with the regular application of cutoffs from the hedges. Three years after the implementation of the project, the soil organic matter and available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium have increased obviously in trial plots of the experimental site. The purpose of ameliorating and utilizing slopelands is to prevent lands from soil erosion and deterioration of the physical and chemical properties of soils and improve the nutrient supply of soils. therefore it will be feasible to adopt slopelands agricultural techniques of contour hedgerow as the principal measure with some supplementary engineering means for restoration and management of the degrading purple soil slope.
  • Qian Zhi
    1998, 53(2): 123-131. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802004
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    Wu Culture is one of the Chinese regional cultures. The Wu Culture Region is the most developed area with a galaxy of talent and plenty of capital in China. Wu Culture is so called here generalized culture with time from ancient to now, and it covers the whole Changjiang Delta district. The chronological order of Wu Cultural consists of Ancient Wu Culture, Wu State Culture and Backward Wu Culture. Tai Lake is the centre of Wu Cultural Region. Wu Culture Region is composed of Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and Yangzhou, Nantong. As early as in the Stone Age, Wu area has been possessed of splendid ancient civilization. Since a man called Taibo came here with his younger brother to avoid being as the Emperor, Wu area had been exploited and Wu Culture had been developed. In South Song Dynasty, Wu area had become the heart of Chinese economy. At the turning point between last century and this century, Wu Culture was developing though it had West Culture pounded. The paper employed systems analysis methodology to discuss the relationship between Wu Culture and the environment, the integrated process of the Wu Cultural System, and the contributors to the Wu Cultural Landscape. There are three bases of Wu Culture development, the first is Wu area with cross connection of rivers and lakes, the second is advantageous geographical location, and the last is the position of China economy heart. A cultural system consists many cultural collections and cultural factors and it is also a self organized system. In compliance to the self organization theory and developing culture theory, the paper analyzed collections and factors of Wu Culture, and portraited the process of their integrated development. These cultural collections include rice, sericulture, tea, fishery, water transport, business, national industry and township village enterprises, food, dress, folk crafts, organization system. These cultural collections and factors mutually affect, and they are interdependent. They are mutually complementary and also condition each other. Then they formed a complex cultural network. This cultural network system exchanges substance, energy and information with its external environment and other cultural system around it. Wu Cultural Factors continuously renew, and a large space which helps for development culture is formed in the course of exchanging. There are also adaptation, transformation, merging and coordination within the course. In all, this paper concluded that Wu Culture is both an aqueous culture and an opening complex system. The environmental change advanced cultural integration and formation of tremendous cultural landscapes.
  • Lu Xuejun, Cheng Jicheng
    1998, 53(2): 132-140. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802005
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    The characteristic of exiting study about Geographical information systems (GIS) and Geographical expert systems (GES) is the formalization of geographical knowledge utilizing technology of computer software, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), which ignores the research of logical thinking system by which the geographical experts solve problems. Therefore, to study the methodology of geographical experts’ logical thinking, the Geographical CognitionTheory (GCT) which aims at research and simulation on the logical thinking mode of geographers is put forward. On the basis of analyzing two concepts in the Cognitive Science——Intention and Mental images, two major concepts in the GCT that are Geographical Intention (GI) and Geographical Mental Images (GMI) are proposed. To probe into the connotation of the GCT, the thesis analyses the characteristic and meaning of Geographical Thinking expressed by Geographical Intention and Geographical Mental Images, studies the method and significance of researching geographical methodology with cognitive psychology as a measure. The symbol system of spatial behavior decision making is discussed. Furthermore, a mode of spatial behavior decision making based on computer is established, and the Information flow and Knowledge flow in the mode is discussed, from above the relation and distinction between GIS and GES are disclosed. To the research of contemporary geography, the systematic, comprehensive, regional and practical research methods are emphasized. The research of contemporary geographical methodology in turn enhances the research of the geographical theory. The contemporary geography has been recognized as a strongly comprehensive discipline and has its own independent scientific system. It is just the “scientific and comprehensive nature” of contemporary geographical methodology that demand us to research the interior and deep laws of the development of the geographical theory system and method system; and cognitive science and cognitive psychology, as the sciences that specially study the laws of human cognitive process, have just provided the necessary means for the research. The GCT, which is established through the cognitive analysis of the development of geographical theory and methods, is sure to be beneficial to the analysis and research of geographical methodology and hence beneficial to the analysis and research of geographical theoretical system, and it also provides the theoretical basis for GIS and GES.
  • Chen Jianyao, Liu Changming
    1998, 53(2): 141-148. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802006
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    This paper is to discuss quantitatively several issues in urban water resources management, which becomes more important than ever before, and mainly focuses on two aspects: water saving potential and comprehensive evaluation. Water use in urban area is divided into two main components: domestic and industrial use. For industrial water use, the policy of using a dynamic standard that is assumed to decrease linearly or nonlinearly with time has been proposed and thus the potential can be estimated by calculating the difference of the standard and actual water use. It is found that the amount of yearly domestic water use per capita ( RL in lper capita) has related to some natural, social and economic factors of urban area, such as population ( J in 10 4 person), temperature ( AT in ℃) and etc. The relation coefficients between RL and AT , W and K are close to 0.9 for the cities with population more than 1 million. Therefore, hypothetical standards of RL for urban domestic water use of any population scale has been suggested by creating a multiple linear relationship between RL and the above pertinent factors with stepwise regression method. The hypothetical RL for cities with population more than 1 million is given as an example with the following equation:RL=4.09 E-02 +1.38*AT+1.78 E-02*W+2.06*G+1.62 E-02*KAfterwards water saving potential for domestic use can easily be calculated following the same procedure as that for industrial use. There are in general many methods to evaluate water resources management, such as cost/benefit. Waste discharge and its quality should also be considered in carrying out evaluation for industrial water use. Fuzzy method has been used in this study to evaluate water management for industrial purposes by employing multiple indices such as water reusing rate, COD per ten thousand tons of sewage, fresh water consumption and discharge per ten thousand yuan (RMB). The Bronze Processing Factory of Luoyang city in Henan Province has been selected as a case study to show the adaptability of this method. The percentage of any three predefined management levels for any factory can be calculated (total percentage in 100%) and the comparisons among these factories can be accomplished easily.
  • Qin Yaochen, Xu Mingjie
    1998, 53(2): 149-156. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802007
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    Problems of indicator for regional sustainable development have theoretical, practical and technical properties. All indicators proposed only from one part of theoretical analysis, and practical application or technical design have some specified limitations. Indicators of regional sustainable development are a sign of the level of men’s understanding. So, indicators of regional sustainable development should be an indicator system of regional economy, society, resources and environment, and it can be used to describe the state of regional sustainable development, to monitor the process of regional sustainable development, to show the prospects of regional sustainable development, and to judge the quality of regional sustainable development. On the basis of summarizing indicator studies for sustainable development, this paper presented an indicator system of man land interactive potential consisting of the bearing capacity of natural resources, the latent capacity of social resources and the social economic capacity of natural environment. There are many studies and ripe methods on the natural resources dimension. On the natural environment dimension, the studies are still in the stage of theoretical research, and the next stage should be practical research. The input output potential belongs to social resource dimension, its measuring method is a key link in the theory and practice of regional sustainable development. Henan Province is a complex regional system, its social economic level and conditions of resources and environment are representative in China. Taking Henan Province as a case, this paper gives a method of measuring regional input output potential, and discusses the analysis and application of this indicator in the sustainable development of Henan Province supported by GIS. The results indicate that input output potential is an effective indicator of measuring the level, capacity and prospects of regional sustainable development, these analysis methods of indicators can be used for other regions by the support of GIS.
  • Ye Shunzan
    1998, 53(2): 157-165. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802008
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    To enhance the transport linkage of Hong Kong with the Inland and to accelerate the economic development of the areas along the Beijing Kowloon Railway, these are two aspects of the major purpose of the construction of the rail artery. Hong Kong as a Special Administration Region since the middle of 1997, will remain her status of a world city in the global urban network, continuing the development of her urban functions. The Beijing Kowloon Railway with its feeders links the Capital and the major economic centres of the country, stretching deeply to the hinterlands. The Railway, having a powerful transport capacity, greatly extends the direct communications between Hong Kong and many places in the middle and east parts of the country. That further increases the capacity of the economic development of the city. The majority of the areas along the Railway, which were hard to get to in the past, are rich with abundant natural resources, but are backward in economic development (except the areas of Zhujiang River Delta and Beijing Tianjin region at the two ends and Nanchang Jiujiang region at the middle). The new rail artery has created a favorable condition for the development of the areas. Hong Kong, serving as an unique base for developing foreign trades and drawing funds for the Inland, could make direct stronger impacts on the areas with the help of the Railway. The major efforts have been made in the paper for searching the possibilities for attracting the investments from Hong Kong to the areas and for increasing the economic linkages and cooperations between the enterprises from both sides. For that purpose, the characters and the functions of Hong Kong, its needs for the further economic growth and the possibilities of involving the economic activities in the areas along the new railway by the enterprises from Hong Kong, the noted natural resources and the environments for the capital investment in the areas have been introduced, and the possibilities of the effective absorbing the investment from Hong Kong by the enterprises in the areas have been probed too. At the last, the directions and the ways for their economic cooperations and other linkages for both sides have been pointed out.
  • Li Jingbao
    1998, 53(2): 166-173. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802009
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    Heavy storm rains caused huge torrents and hit the Dongting Lake Plain from July to August in 1996. About 53.63?10 4 hm 2 land in this region were submerged by the flood water, with total economic loss of RMB 3 036.4?10 8 Yuan. Based on the investigation and the analysis by the author, some important conclusions about the features and the causes of the flood disasters are got as follows. (1) The flood disaster showed some special features such as the vast disaster areas, the serious economic and social losses, the obvious regional difference and losses caused by the flood disaster being enlarged evidently. (2) Compared with the flood disasters in 1954, the direct economic losses caused by the flood disasters in 1996 are four and half times as great as those caused by the flood disasters in 1954, although the rainfall, flood scale and the affected areas are smaller than those in 1954. (3) The specific environmental conditions such as the dishshaped structure of the Lake basin and the tremendous water supply of Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li rivers in flood season caused the flood disasters. (4) Those special factors such as that the four times of the storms happened from July 1 to August 3 and the three times of the convergences of the flood water of Changjiang River and the four rivers of Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li strengthened the force of flood water to cause the disasters. (5) The other factors were those such as the lack of flood control capacity of the four rivers, the degeneration of the function of flood control and drain of the Dongting Lake and the lower standard of flood control and drain in this region. (6) The regional difference of economic development in the Dongting Lake basin was the primary factor which made the direct economic losses bigger than that in 1954 as well as made the disasters to be differed obviously in space.
  • Yin Guokang
    1998, 53(2): 174-183. https://doi.org/10.11821/xb199802010
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    The research area is the sandy and coarse sediment area of the middle Yellow River with some 13×104km2 of area, of which 73 per cent are situated in loess hill and gully region. Based on some 10 000 observational data from 21 drainage basins in this region from the early part of the 1950s to 1993, by statistical analysis on temporal and spatial variations in sediment yield runoff precipitation, the following understandings are obtained: 1. The distributions of precipitation, runoff, and sediment load in the area within a year are very concentrated, especially sediment load. The sediment yield during flood season (from June to Supt.) makes up over 97 per cent of the annual total. In addition, the sediment yield in flood season is always concentrated in a few heavy storms. Consequently, the study of sediment yield for this area should emphasize on the mechanism of storm effects on runoff and sediment yield. 2. Though the annual sediment yield in this region often concentrates in a few heavy storms, what time and where to present such a storm and its intensity and process are all trandom. Furthermore, the effects of land surface characteristics in runoff and sediment yield are of comlexity in temporal and variety in space so the process of producing sediment is more changeful. As a result the fluctuation amplitude of sediment yield for the same interval of time may arrive at several tens, so far as to more than two hundreds. 3. Since the 1970s, owing to the fact that the climate in the middle Yellow River has tended to drought and the regulation level has been gradually improved, both annual runoff and sediment yield have continuously decreased. The mean annual precipitation in the study area in the 1970s, as compared with that during the period of 1954 ̄1969, decreased by 9 4%, and the annual runoff and the annual sediment discharge on average decreased by 18 5% and 23 8% respectively. And during the 1980s, they decreased by 14 4%, 35 6% and 58 4% respectively. In the first four years of the 1990s, they respectively decreased by 15 6%, 39 5% and 54 8%. 4. By statistical analysis it is shown that the mean annual runoff in the region in the 1970s, as compared with that in the period of 1954 ̄1969, decreased by 12 6×108m3, of which 42 5% were caused by climatic fluctuation and the other 57 5% were caused by man’s activity. And in the 1980s the mean annual runoff decreased by 24 4×108m3, of which 39 1% wre caused by the climate fluctuation and the other 60 9% were the man made. In the aspect of decrease in sediment load, the mean annual sediment discharge in the 1970s, as compared with that in the period of 1954 ̄1969, decreased by approximately 3×108t, of which 68 5% were caused by the climatic fluctuation and the other 31 5% were the man made. And during the 1980s the mean annual sediment discharge decreased by about 7 3×108t, of which 48.8% were caused by the climatic fluctuation and the other 51 2% were due to man’s activity. It manifested that no doubt there was a phenomenon of increase in sediment yield caused by some man’s activities such as large scale opencut, road engineering, city and town construction etc. in the region in recent years, but the water and soil conservation measures, in addition to an offset to the nagative effect, still demonstrated the notable effectiveness in decreasing runoff and sediment yield. And yet, it should be pointed out that owing to the water and soil conservation measures being easily ageing and subjected to a man made interference, the function of water and soil conservation measures would gradually weaken. For this reason, from now on, how to strengthen the management and safeguard of the regulation measures is of vital importance. 5. As it is seen from the historical sequence of climatic variation in the region, the catastrophic storm flood was not rare. For example, the storm flood occurred in the area during Sept.20 ̄Oct.06, 1662 caused the largest flood in history in north China.